Work began on this second volume of VCH Cornwall ninety-six years after William Page's first red book was published in 1906, and the result lives up to the high standards of the modern series. The volume is divided into two main sections, ‘Religious history to 1560’ and ‘Religious houses’. The first 120 pages provide chronological and thematic reviews of important topics: religious history in pre-Norman Cornwall, the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the clergy and people in the later Middle Ages and the Reformation. Nicholas Orme's clear, engaging prose deals with a full range of topics, from the earliest evidence for Christianity through the formation of parishes to the administration of the later medieval parish church. His detailed knowledge of the sources allows him to present many fascinating details on the operation of the dioceses and different types of institutions. Given his previous work on such diverse topics as church dedications, medieval education and the spread of chapels it is no surprise to find interesting sections on these topics. The focus of the book is on the analysis of information in the historical sources and there are only a few pages dedicated to topics such as the architectural history, decoration or archaeology of parish churches. Nevertheless, effective use is made of maps, plans and illustrations. The final chapter in this section, by Oliver Padel, goes back to the early Middle Ages to consider particularly ‘Celtic’ aspects of religion in the county. Similar themes and material were covered in Orme's first chapter and the two might have been combined to make a neater structure. The second part of the book presents the evidence for each medieval religious house in the county including priories, friaries, hospitals and collegiate churches. A short chapter considering the evidence for the pre-Conquest houses is followed by substantial discussions of all the county's known and possible religious institutions in the later Middle Ages including their buildings, endowments and estates, with accounts of significant individuals connected to each house. The book will surely remain a standard source of reference for religion in medieval Cornwall, and is particularly useful for the religious houses.